Studio Equipment

Below is a list of studio equipment which can be found in a TV Studio

• Cool Lights
• Tungstan Lights
• Curtain Tracks
• House Lights
• STOB (Studio Terminal Outlet Box)
• Floor Monitor
• On Air Light
• Suspended Mics
• Sony z-2's Mounted On Ped's
• Audio Desk
• Vision Mixing Panel
• Lighting Desk
• DvD

Crew Roles and Responsibilities

Below is a list of the Crew roles that are involved in a live Tv production.

Director - The director is completely incharge of the whole production. He/She tells the camera crew exactly what they want them to do during the show and tells the vision mixer when to cut to the next shot during the 'live' recording.

Floor Manager - The floor manager represents the director in the studio and makes sure that the 'talent' and crew know what they are doing. He/She is also there to sort out any problems there may be on the studio floor, and to state clearly what the director wants crew members and 'talent' to do.

Assistant Floor Manager - An asisstant floor manager helps the floor manager with thier duties and makes sure that the 'talent' have everything they need.

Camera Ops - Camera Operators operate the cameras during the show and try to get a variety of shots that they have been told to get by the director.

Camera Assisstant - Camera Assistants help the Camera Ops to move thier camera during filming and also hold the cables out of the way so that noon trips on them.

Talent - The 'talent' are guests on the live tv show, so their job is to answer the questions and make the show as entertaining as possible. The presenter also counts as 'talent' and his/her job is to deliver the questions clearly and keep the show upbeat as well as being able to focus the contestants if they side-track from the questions.

Sound Op - A Sound Op operates the Audio mixing desk, and makes sure that all the microphones are working before the show.

Vision Mixer - A Vision Mixer, cuts from one shot to the next using the visual mixing desk and can also use various wipes and transisitons to go from the titles into the studio.

Dvd Op - a Dvd Operator operates the dvd player and makes sure that the clips are played at the correct time.

Lighting Op - The Lighting Operator operates the lighting desk and makes sure that the lights go on/off on cue from the director.

Multi-cam Production Terms

Below are a list of Multicam Production Terms


"Dvd Ready" - This is a call used by the Sound Team to tell the Director that the VT's are ready to be cut into the live show.


"Floor Ready" - This is a call used by the Floor Manager to tell the director that the Talent, Crew, and Audience are ready to begin filming.


"Sound Ready" - This is a call used by the Sound Team to tell the Director that all sound checks have been done and that the mic's are ready for recording.


"Cut" - This is a call used from the Director to the Vision Mixer to tell him/her when to cut to the next shot.

Studio Protocol

Below are the rules which are to be followed in the studio:

Do Not Run In The Studio - the cameras have long cables that trail along the floor and could be tripped over.

No Food And Drink In The Studio because they could spill and damage the cameras and microphones. There is also a risk of being electrocuted.

No messing about on the (cans) headsets - The cans are specifically used for communication between the Director and the Crew which is why it is very important that you do not talk unless you are spoken to as their needs to be clear communication.

Only allow people in the studio who are really needed for the production - as their is only a limited about of space and the crew need to be focused to get the best recording they can.

Signal Flows

Audio Signal flow starts with the mics, then goes through STOB then through the RACK into the sound mixing desk where volumes and the quality of the sound can be altered. the signal then spilts and goes into the sound speakers in the sound mixing room and also to the recorder (programme out) where the show is recorded onto a hrad disk.

Video signal Flow goes from the camera, through STOB and RACK to the vision mixer where the signal thenn goes to the line out recorder.

Camera Shots and Moves

Below is a list of camera shots which are used in Multi-cam Production.

Wide Shot - A Wide Shot shows the whole studio (set and 'talent') and the front row of the audience. this is commonly used at the start fo a show.

Two Shot - A Two Shot is used to show two contestants who are on the same team. This is used alot in quiz shows to show contestants reactions to question etc.

Close Up - Close up are normally used to show the scores of the teams or to show the audience a prop that is being used to answer a question.

One Shot/ Mid Shot - One Shot or Mid Shots are normally used to show the presenter and sometimes used on contestants.

Medium Close Up - Where you can see from the head to the waist on the subject.

Crab - To move the camera to the left or right

Zoom - To zoom in or out of a shot

Ped - To move the camera up or down

Pan - Move camera left/right or up/down

Tilt - up/down

DVD Operation and Insert Requirements

Below is a list Dvd Operation and Insert Requirements;

• Make sure that the screen size is the same for both VT insert and stings so they appear the same size when played on screen.
• Make sure there is at least seven seconds between each VT
• Make sure there is one second of 'black', Five seconds of VT Roll which tells the Dvd Op what track they are on and what the VT clip is of and finally 1 second of black at the end of the clip just incase there are any problems when trying to cut back to the studio.

Directing and Director's Calls

The role of a Director is to set up the camera shots which he/she wants to use during the programme, to tell the Floor Manager what is expected of the talent/audience so he/she can relay this information to them.

While talking to Camera Operators, the Director might ask them to perform either a PED, a crab or tracking to create the shot which he/she wants. Below are the definitins of these terms.

Crab - This means that the Director wants them to move either left or right e.g crab left

PED- This means the Director wants the camera operator to move the shot either up or down e.g. PED UP

Tracking- This means that the director wants them to either move towards the talent or move away from them e.g. tracking in

programme rundowns

Running Orders and Cue sheets are used by The Director and Dvd Ops so that they know whether the next VT is going to be audio or video and what the VT is going to be of.

Here is an example of a Cue Sheet;


Here is an example of a Running Order (below);

Floor Plans

Here is a drawing of a 1:50 scale floor plan of where our cameras and set were situated in the studio.

Planning camera Placement and Shots

We decided to use a jib arm as camer 4 which was placed behind then audience to be able to be creative with the wide shots we could use during the show. We also used camera 2 on the platform behind the audience to keep a constant mid shot on our host. We then used camera 1 and 3 to get over the should shots, three shots and two shots of the teams. These two cameras would mirror each other so that they get identical shots of the opposite teams.

Planning Audio Coverage

We used fixed mics for the contestants and the host so they wouldnt be seen on screen and these are what are used in professional television programmes. We also had two directional mics over the audience to pic up clapping and cheering so that at atmosphere in the studio was created.

Talk Backs And Thier Use/ Protocol

Talk Backs are used by Camera Operators, Floor Manager, Asisstant Floor Managers, Dvd Operator, The Sound Team and the Director to communicate to each other throughout the show. However, if the camera operators have a problem with thier camera they msut first talk to the floor manager and see if they can solve the problem and if the problem still cannot be solved they must say "Camera *insert number* to director" and wait for the director to answer. Camera Operators musnt use the Cans unless they have a problem as the floor manager needs to be able to hear what the sound team and director has to say to him/her.

Planning and Designing a set

As an Art Director, I researched into different cityscape artwork on the internet and found these two prints by Paul Brent. I thought that they would be ideal to base our set on as I thought that silhouettes of buildings would look good and be simple to do.

Daniel and I then came up with an initial sketch design based on the Paul Brent designs. We changed the sky to a blue/purple colour as we wanted our set to conform to normal tv sets in some way.

We then painted this design onto a flat with the help of our classmates and this design was then placed infront of the desk. As seen in the picture below.

We then designed the other 5 flats to have silhouettes of buildings on them and painted them with the help of other classmates.

Finally, we put up the set and put the desk in place so that lighting and other checks could be made.

Planning and Lighting the set

In order to establish what lighting to use in the studio during our production, we made Bobby (host), and two crew members sit around the table so we could adjust the lighting and make sure there was no glare off the 'talent'.
We ended up using 3 point lighting which a spot light on your subjects and use cool lights to balance out the light exposure on the other side of thir faces. Another spotlight is then used behind the 'talent' to make them stand out form the background.

Scripts and Calls

Efficient Rehearsal and Recording Practice

We Rehearsed in two rotations so that in one part we could practice our production role and in the other part be a contestant if we had no role or practice our second production role. During our first few rehearsals, we used the script and VT inserts from the previous group as our materials were not ready, but then as we progressed through the rehersals we used our own script and discovered that it needed a lot of work doing to it as it was a mess. Stuart, Lauren and Sam stayed after college to work on the scripts and got them up to a high standard. We then did some more rehersals and watched them back to see how we could improve them and then later we recorded that actual show 'as live' to the highest standrad we possibly could.

Technical Rehearsals and Action Planning

We rehearsed through the script and found that there were quite a few errors with it so a few me,bers of the class took some time out of college to completely reformat the script so that it would work for the live recording.

We also realised during rehearsals that the quality of sound from the mics could be affected by clothing and that if the 'talent' tapped on the table or rustled q-cards that this would be picked up by the mics. We made sure that for the 'live' recording the 'talent' knew not to touch the mics or tap on the table.